Self Care

 In busy adult life, urban or not, self care is not something that just happens. What I mean by self care are the ways in which we take care of ourselves through spiritual, exercise, dietary, and creative practices. In the rush of life, with or without children, it is easy to slip into unhealthy routines of passive and toxic consumption (i.e. decompressing by watching television, having a drink, and/or smoking, eating fast food, or whatever is in the house). Unfortunately none of these activities actually recharge us; they just let us tune out for a moment or “not deal”. The fact of the matter is we feel better when we take care of ourselves and to do this requires planning and commitment. Some things in our schedules we cannot change (e.g., work and school schedules), but outside of those we can plan to exercise, do yoga, go to church, practice piano, read, eat in healthy way. In doing these types activities we actively recharge. I recommend starting small. Choose an area in your life that you have been neglecting and give it some attention by carving out time for it twice over the next week. See how you feel. Keep going.